June 10, 2014

E3 2014: Captain Toad Goes Forth In His Own Spin-off

While you weren't paying attention, Captain Toad became a hero. After appearing as a nameless leader of the Toad Brigade in Super Mario Galaxy, he popped up in the sequel in a slightly larger role before going on to stardom as a playable character in a handful of special action puzzle levels in Super Mario 3D World. Now Captain Toad is advancing to solo adventure stardom in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker which is an entire game's worth of levels based on the Captain Toad material from 3D World. Watch the Nintendo Treehouse Live @ E3 crew play through the four E3 demo stages in which the captain plucks vegetables, evades a lava beast, rides in a minecart, and explores a haunted house.

I'm sure that it was easy for the developers to put this game together quickly. It appears to use the Captain Toad engine ripped right out of 3D World and given a little more polish along with some reused assets from the game. This is not a complaint; if anything, reusing that material helped keep development costs down and make this a viable project. It's a full retail release, too, and not an eShop exclusive. Can a Toad topline his own game? It hasn't happened since Wario's Woods and that's not exactly a stellar title. It helps that the Captain Toad levels are stronger experiences and more fun than Wario's Woods could ever hope to be. The captain is such a joyful character; his trademark catchphrase may just well be "Ready for adventure!" as heard in 3D World and the E3 demo. Here's hoping we see more of Captain Toad in the future. He's too fun a character to slip away.

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E3 2014: Captain Toad Goes Forth In His Own Spin-off

While you weren't paying attention, Captain Toad became a hero. After appearing as a nameless leader of the Toad Brigade in Super Mario Galaxy, he popped up in the sequel in a slightly larger role before going on to stardom as a playable character in a handful of special action puzzle levels in Super Mario 3D World. Now Captain Toad is advancing to solo adventure stardom in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker which is an entire game's worth of levels based on the Captain Toad material from 3D World. Watch the Nintendo Treehouse Live @ E3 crew play through the four E3 demo stages in which the captain plucks vegetables, evades a lava beast, rides in a minecart, and explores a haunted house.

I'm sure that it was easy for the developers to put this game together quickly. It appears to use the Captain Toad engine ripped right out of 3D World and given a little more polish along with some reused assets from the game. This is not a complaint; if anything, reusing that material helped keep development costs down and make this a viable project. It's a full retail release, too, and not an eShop exclusive. Can a Toad topline his own game? It hasn't happened since Wario's Woods and that's not exactly a stellar title. It helps that the Captain Toad levels are stronger experiences and more fun than Wario's Woods could ever hope to be. The captain is such a joyful character; his trademark catchphrase may just well be "Ready for adventure!" as heard in 3D World and the E3 demo. Here's hoping we see more of Captain Toad in the future. He's too fun a character to slip away.